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Will the inclusion of 'Big Names' Improve the Image of the Europa League?

Samrin Hasib, December 15 2011,
The Europa League draw takes place on the 16th of December. Some unexpected but required names will be in the draw.
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Related Articles: Porto, Manchester United, Manchester City, Valencia, Steaua Bucharest
The Europa League was meant to be the Champions League’s sister competition. The name was changed to Europa League from the former UEFA Cup to add more prestige to the competition. This change did very little to change the way the Europa League is treated by so-called ‘big’ sides. Teams which have virtually no chance of winning the Champions League play reserve sides in Europa League matches at times.

The competition needed an improvement in its image and maybe the inclusion of teams with better pedigree will do so. Schalke’s status as Champions League semi-finalists from last season definitely helps the image as does the inclusion of Premier League top duo Manchester City and Manchester United. Added to that is another former Champions League winner Porto and former Champions League finalist Valencia. Porto is the defending champion.

The Europa League provides plenty of entertaining matches. In the last round of matches, Dynamo Kiev and Maccabi Haifa played to a 3-3 draw in which two Kiev players were shown red cards. PSG beat Athletic Bilbao 4-2. Also, very rarely do same teams win the competition as has become the norm in the Champions League barring Inter’s triumph in 2010.

When better teams are added to the playing field, other teams must raise their level to compete against them. This inevitably makes for improved competition and better matches. The downside is teams might choose to park the bus when drawn against teams like United and City even though those kinds of matches can have plenty of drama too.

However, there is the fear that United and City as well as other big names might field reserve sides and as a result ruin the competition’s image further. Manchester City has already announced that their aim is to win the competition. United is currently not playing too well and thus Sir Alex Ferguson might decide to concentrate on the domestic double instead.

Valencia requires the money they earn from the Champions League. The fact that their new stadium was stopped midway through construction is no secret. The Europa League offers scant financial rewards. Valencia thus might decide to concentrate on a top four finish in the league. Porto is currently top of the table in the Portuguese League and will perhaps have intentions to win the treble again (the domestic double and the Europa League).

The hype surrounding teams such as Valencia and Porto are more than the hype surrounding teams such as Braga or Lazio. Due to the large fan base of these teams, stadiums of teams from lower leagues that are bound to face either United or City will surely be sold out. Thus, the inclusion of big names helps the smaller sides too.

And finally, this season’s Europa League final will be held in the National Arena in Bucharest. The stadium belongs to Steaua Bucuresti, a team that won the European Cup in 1986. This simply adds special flavour to the competition itself.

This time’s Europa League draw is surely going to be exciting considering the calibre of teams in the competition.

For the fans out there: just don’t be surprised if the final turns out to be a Manchester derby.

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